Launching toy

ABSTRACT

Provided is a launching toy for launching a projectile with a simple structure and excellent operability. The launching toy includes a main body having a loading portion for loading the projectile and an advancing member provided to the main body so as to be operated by a finger. The advancing member is configured to push and launch the projectile loaded in the loading portion frontwards from the main body by a manual operation. The advancing member is configured to be able to advance and recede relative to the loading portion, and is normally in an advance-standby state by means of its own weight such that the advancing member recedes from the loading portion, and is configured to protrude into the loading portion to push the projectile loaded in the loading portion by a finger operation.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Utility Model Application No. 2013-004638 filed on Aug. 9, 2013, and the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

The present invention relates to a launching toy for launching a projectile.

BACKGROUND ART

A launching toy has been known that includes a projectile and a main body having a loading portion for loading the projectile. The main body is provided with an advancing member to push and launch the projectile loaded in the loading portion frontwards from the main body by a manual operation. The launching toy is further provided with a spring to return the advancing member to an advance-standby position (e.g., see Patent Literature 1).

PRIOR ART DOCUMENT Patent Literature

-   Patent Literature 1: Registered Japanese Utility Model No. 3160233

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem

The technique described in Patent Literature 1, which includes the spring to return the advancing member to an advance-standby position, requires an increased number of components required for attachment of the spring, and shows inferior operability due to a manual operation of the advancing member against the biasing force of the spring when an operator pushes the projectile.

An object of the present invention is to provide a launching toy with a simple structure and excellent operability.

Solution to Problem

A launching toy for launching a projectile according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a main body having a loading portion for loading the projectile and a manually operable advancing member provided to the main body.

The advancing member is configured to push and launch the projectile loaded in the loading portion frontwards from the main body by a manual operation. The advancing member is also configured to be able to advance and recede relative to the loading portion, and is normally in an advance-standby state by means of its own weight such that the advancing member recedes from the loading portion, and the advancing member is configured to protrude into the loading portion to push the projectile by a manual operation.

A launching toy for launching a projectile according to a second aspect of the present invention includes a main body having a loading portion for loading the projectile and a manually operable advancing member provided to the main body.

The advancing member is configured to push and launch the projectile loaded in the loading portion frontwards from the main body by a manual operation. The advancing member is configured to be able to advance and recede relative to the loading portion, and is normally in a state such that the advancing member protrudes into the loading portion by means of its own weight. And the advancing member is configured to enter an advance-standby state in which the advancing member recedes from the loading portion caused by sliding contact with the projectile when the projectile is loaded into the loading portion, and then to protrude into the loading portion to push the projectile by a subsequent manual operation.

Preferably, the projectile in the launching toy (second aspect) is loaded into the loading portion by means of its own weight.

This structure can facilitate loading of the projectile into the loading portion.

Preferably, the launching toy further includes at least one flipper for flicking out the projectile, and the flipper is elastically deformed by sliding contact with the projectile caused by an initial travel of the projectile pushed by the advancing member and flicks out the projectile by means of elastic recovery force caused by a further travel of the projectile.

Because the elastic recovery force of the flipper flicks out the projectile, the structure can achieve high-speed launching of a projectile.

Preferably the advancing member is a pendulum rotatable about a predetermined horizontal axis.

Because the advancing member is a pendulum, it improves the operability of the toy and makes the advancing member less protruded from the main body than a linear-motion advancing member.

Preferably the advancing member of the above launching toy has a fan shape from a side view and is rotatable at a portion corresponding to abase of the fan shape about a predetermined horizontal axis. The advancing member includes an operating part at a portion corresponding to one of radial edges of the fan shape, and the operating part extends horizontally or downward toward a free end side, thereof in an advance-standby state.

This structure can improve the operability of the toy.

Preferably, the advancing member of the above launching toy is rotatable by a manual operation until the operating part becomes vertical.

By virtue of this, the advancing member can rotate until the operating part becomes vertical, and can have a large stroke. This structure can launch a projectile effectively.

Advantageous Effects

In the launching toy according to the first aspect of the present invention, the advancing member is normally in an advance-standby state by means of its own weight such that the advancing member recedes from the loading portion. This structure does not require a spring for holding the advancing member in the advance-standby state, thereby reducing the number of components and improving the operability of the advancing member.

In the launching toy according to the second aspect, the advancing member is in an advance-standby state in which the advancing member recedes from the loading portion by means of a sliding contact with the projectile upon loading of the projectile into the loading portion. This structure also does not require a spring for holding the advancing member in the advance-standby state, thereby reducing the number of components and improving the operability of the advancing member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the entire structure of a launching toy according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view illustrating a main body of the launching toy in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a rear perspective view illustrating an attachment frame and several components therearound according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a front perspective view illustrating an advancing member according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a rear perspective view illustrating an advancing member according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6A is a side view for explanation of an operation of the advancing member according to an embodiment of the invention, in which the advancing member is in a loading portion;

FIG. 6B is a side view for explanation of an operation of the advancing member according to an embodiment of the invention, in which the advancing member is in an advance-standby state;

FIG. 7 is a plan view illustrating an attachment frame and several components therearound according to an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 8 is a front perspective view illustrating an advancing member, a pair of flippers, and a guide according to an embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

An embodiment of a launching toy according to the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiment does not intend to limit the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the entire structure of a launching toy according to an embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view illustrating the main body of the launching toy in FIG. 1.

The launching toy 100 includes the main body (of a launching toy) 10, and a ball 50 as a projectile. The main body 10 is sized to be held by one hand and shows a robot shape as a whole. Examples of the ball 50 include a metal ball, a plastic ball, a glass ball and the like.

By introducing the ball 50 into the main body 10 through a loading gate 11 provided at the rear of the main body 10 and pressing an advancing member 12 which is an operating member with a finger, the launching toy 100 launches the ball 50 frontwards through a launcher mouth 13 provided at the front of the main body 10.

The launching toy 100 will now be described in detail.

FIG. 3 is a rear perspective view illustrating an attachment frame and several components around the attachment frame. The main body 10 includes the attachment frame 14. The attachment frame 14 is provided with a head 15, a torso 16, left and right arms 17 and 17, legs 18, and other accompanying components. The main body 10 has a path for the ball 50 therein, the path having one end communicating with the loading gate 11 at the rear of the main body 10 and the other end communicating with the launcher mouth 13 at the front of the main body 10. The ball 50 introduced through the loading gate 11 at the rear of the main body 10 is loaded into a loading portion 19 at a lower portion (see FIG. 6) such that a press operation of the advancing member 12 causes launching through the launcher mouth 13 at the front of the main body 10.

The advancing member 12 is attached to the attachment frame 14. FIG. 4 is a front perspective view illustrating the advancing member and FIG. 5 is a rear perspective view illustrating the advancing member. The advancing member 12 has a fan shape when viewed from a side. The advancing member 12 can rotate in the vertical plane about horizontal axes 12 a, 12 a connected to the portion corresponding to a base (rivet portion) of the fan shape. The advancing member 12 includes two fan-shaped plates 12 b and 12 b, which are apart from each other in the width direction, a plate 12 c connecting the arc sides of the two fan-shaped plates 12 b and 12 b with each other, and a flat plate 12 d provided and connected with one radial edge of each of the fan-shaped plates 12 b and 12 b. The front edge of the plate 12 c is concave.

Parts of the front edges of the two fan-shaped plates 12 b and 12 b and the front edge of the plate 12 c form a pushing portion A for pushing the ball 50. The flat plate 12 d provided at the rear edges of the two fan-shaped plates 12 b and 12 b forms a finger-touch portion B for a finger to push the advancing member 12. The finger-touch portion B is tilted downwardly toward the free end thereof when viewed from a side in an advance-standby state, so that this structure can improve the operability of the toy.

The outer surfaces of the fan-shaped plates 12 b and 12 b each have an arcuate projection 12 f concentric with the horizontal axis 12 a. The projections 12 f engage with arcuate grooves (not shown) in the main body 10.

Although the finger-touch portion B is tilted downwardly toward the free end thereof when viewed from a side in an advance-standby state, the finger-touch portion B may be horizontally extended. If the finger-touch portion B is tilted upwardly toward the free end thereof when viewed from a side in an advance-standby state, it adversely affects the operability of the toy, while the horizontal finger-touch portion B does not adversely affect the operability. In addition, if the finger-touch portion B can rotate to a vertical position when viewed from a side, the finger-touch portion B can have a large stroke, so that the structure can launch the ball 50 effectively.

FIG. 6 is a side view for explanation of an operation of the advancing member. The advancing member 12 can advance and recede relative to the loading portion 19 by rotating about the horizontal axis 12 a. When the ball 50 is not loaded in the loading portion 19, the advancing member 12 protrudes into the loading portion 19 by means of its own weight of the advancing member 12 as illustrated in FIG. 6A. When the ball 50 comes from above, parts of the front edges of the two fan-shaped plates 12 b and 12 b make sliding contact with the coming ball 50. When the ball 50 is loaded, the advancing member 12 is positioned into an advance-standby state such that the advancing member 12 recedes from the loading portion 19 as illustrated in FIG. 6B.

Although the advancing member 12 enters an advance-standby state by means of the sliding contact with the coming ball 50 in this case, the advancing member 12 may be originally in an advance-standby state in which the advancing member 12 recedes from the path at the loading side by means of its own weight of the advancing member 12. Although the advancing member 12 has a fan shape when viewed from a side, the advancing member 12 may have a straight-rod shape or a flat-plate shape and move linearly along the direction in which the advancing member 12 advances/recedes relative to the loading portion 19.

A guide 20 is provided on the bottom of the path at the launching side in the loading portion 19. The “path at the launching side” indicates a part of the path that is closer to the launcher mouth 13 from the loading portion 19. The rear edge of the guide 20 has an arcuate concave so that the ball 50 can be retained in the loading portion 19. The guide 20 extends in the anteroposterior direction of the main body 10. The guide 20 has a flat top in the vicinity of the loading portion 19 and has inwardly concaved ridges ahead and behind the top. When the advancing member 12 pushes the ball 50 frontwards, the guide 20 slightly raises the ball 50, so that the ball 50 effectively makes sliding contact with a pair of flippers 21 and 21.

FIG. 7 is a plan view illustrating the attachment frame and several components around the attachment frame, and FIG. 8 is a front perspective view illustrating the advancing member, the pair of flippers, and the guide member.

The main body 10 includes the pair of flippers 21 and 21. The pair of flippers 21 and 21 is provided at a predetermined height on the left and right sides of the path of the launching side. The pair of flippers 21 and 21 is connected with each other by a curved member 22 that is curved to have a concave top when viewed from a front side and forms the bottom of the loading portion 19. The pair of flippers 21 and 21 may be connected with each other by any member other than the curved member 22 forming the bottom of the loading portion 19. A cylindrical sliding contact 21 a is provided at the end of each flipper 21.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, the pair of flippers 21 and 21 can hold the ball 50 in the loading portion 19 from the rear side as plan view. That is, the front part of each flipper 21 is curved inward so as to protrude to the path of the launching side. While the advancing member 12 is pushing out the ball 50, the sliding contacts 21 a and 21 a of the pair of flippers 21 and 21 becomes sliding contact with the front half of the ball 50, and is elastically deformed in outward directions and recedes from the path at first, and after the front half of the ball 50 passes by each sliding contact 21 a, the pair of flippers 21 and 21 flicks out the ball 50 by means of the elastic recovery force. The ball 50 is thus launched through the launcher mouth 13 of the main body 10 at high speed.

The number of flippers is not limited to two, and may be one or more than two.

Such a launching toy 100 can provide the effects below.

Unlike conventional techniques, the structure does not require a spring to return the advancing member 12 to an advance-standby state, thereby reducing the number of components.

The ball 50 is loaded into the loading portion 19 by its own weight of the ball 50, so that the structure can facilitate loading of the ball 50 into the loading portion 19.

The elastic recovery force of the pair of flippers 21 and 21 flicks out the ball 50, so that the structure achieves high-speed launching of the ball 50.

When the advancing member 12 is configured as a pendulum, it can show higher operability and less protrusion from the main body 10 than a linear-motion advancing member.

The advancing member 12 has a fan shape, and the finger-touch portion B is tilted downward toward the free end thereof when viewed from a side in an advance-standby state, so that this structure can improve the operability of the toy.

If the finger-touch portion B of the advancing member 12 can rotate to a vertical position when viewed from a side, the advancing member 12 can have a large stroke, so that the structure can launch the ball 50 effectively.

It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment and may be variously modified within the gist of the invention.

For example, the projectile is the ball 50 in the embodiment, but may have a discoid shape or a cylindrical shape.

Additionally, although the ball 50 is directly introduced through the loading gate 11 at the rear of the main body 10 in the embodiment, a magazine containing a number of balls 50 may be attached to the loading gate 11 to successively introduce the balls 50. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A launching toy for launching a projectile, comprising: a main body having a loading portion for loading the projectile; and a manually operable advancing member provided to the main body, the advancing member being configured to push and launch the projectile loaded in the loading portion frontwards from the main body by a manual operation, wherein the advancing member is configured to be able to advance and recede relative to the loading portion, and is normally in an advance-standby state by means of its own weight such that the advancing member recedes from the loading portion, and the advancing member is configured to protrude, by a manual operation, into the loading portion to push the projectile.
 2. A launching toy for launching a projectile, comprising: a main body having a loading portion for loading the projectile; and a manually operable advancing member provided to the main body, the advancing member being configured to push and launch the projectile loaded in the loading portion frontwards from the main body by a manual operation, wherein the advancing member is configured to be able to advance and recede relative to the loading portion, and is normally in a state such that the advancing member protrudes into the loading portion by means of its own weight, and the advancing member is configured to enter an advance-standby state in which the advancing member recedes from the loading portion by means of sliding contact with the projectile when the projectile is loaded into the loading portion, and then to protrude, by a subsequent manual operation, into the loading portion to push the projectile.
 3. The launching toy according to claim 2, wherein the projectile is loaded into the loading portion by means of a weight of the projectile.
 4. The launching toy according to claim 1, further comprising at least one flipper for flicking out the projectile, wherein the flipper is elastically deformed by sliding contact with the projectile caused by an initial travel of the projectile, and flicks out the projectile by means of elastic recovery force caused by a further travel of the projectile.
 5. The launching toy according to claim 2, further comprising at least one flipper for flicking out the projectile, wherein the flipper is elastically deformed by sliding contact with the projectile caused by an initial travel of the projectile, and flicks out the projectile by means of elastic recovery force caused by a further travel of the projectile.
 6. The launching toy according to claim 1, wherein the advancing member is configured as a pendulum rotatable about a predetermined horizontal axis.
 7. The launching toy according to claim 6, wherein the advancing member has a fan shape when viewed from a side and is rotatable at a portion corresponding to the base of the fan shape about the predetermined horizontal axis, and the advancing member comprises an operating part at a portion corresponding to one of radial edges of the fan shape, the operating part extending horizontally or downward toward a free end thereof in the advance-standby state.
 8. The launching toy according to claim 7, wherein the advancing member is rotatable by a manual operation until the operating part becomes vertical.
 9. The launching toy according to claim 2, wherein the advancing member is configured as a pendulum rotatable about a predetermined horizontal axis.
 10. The launching toy according to claim 9, wherein the advancing member has a fan shape when viewed from a side and is rotatable at a portion corresponding to the base of the fan shape about the predetermined horizontal axis, and the advancing member comprises an operating part at a portion corresponding to one of radial edges of the fan shape, the operating part extending horizontally or downward toward a free end thereof in the advance-standby state.
 11. The launching toy according to claim 10, wherein the advancing member is rotatable by a manual operation until the operating part becomes vertical. 